Appointments for the Walgreens surprise vaccine are full, but seniors can still register on Monday

Appointments that opened ahead of schedule for Vermonters 65 and over to get the Covid-19 vaccine have all been filled, officials said at a press conference on Friday.

Walgreens on Thursday opened vaccinations to this age group earlier than expected due to a higher than expected federal vaccine allocation, Human Services Secretary Mike Smith said.

“It was an allocation that was higher than expected, but we knew the supply was limited – I think it was around 4,300 doses,” he said. “So at the moment Walgreens is full, and we pretty much knew it was going to happen, given the size of the group.

Walgreens is one of the beneficiaries of a federal government pilot program to distribute vaccines directly to pharmacies rather than to states. Gov. Phil Scott told a press conference on Tuesday that many governors were concerned about the lack of control over this program.

In response to questions on Friday about some Vermonters’ confusion over the last-minute deployment, Scott said the dose infusion from the pharmacy has provided an “improvement” to the ongoing vaccination schedule. “It was a limited supply, but we wanted it to be available as quickly as possible,” he said.

Smith said the state would work to better coordinate with Walgreens regarding future allocations. “These drug programs will be critical in terms of how we look at our vaccination strategy going forward,” said Smith.

Vermonters 65 and over will be able to sign up for a vaccine appointment on the Department of Health website and the Walgreens and Kinney Drugs websites, starting at 8:15 a.m. Monday.

[Read our updated FAQ: How to sign up for the Covid vaccine]

Almost 18% of Vermonters aged 16 and over received their first dose of the vaccine, including 72% of Vermonters aged 75 and over, and 25% of Vermonters aged 70 to 74. About 47,000 people received only the first dose and 51,000 received both doses of the vaccine, according to the health ministry.

To sign up for a vaccine appointment, visit healthvermont.gov/MyVaccine (preferred) or call 855-722-7878.

You will be asked to provide your name, date of birth, address, email (if available), phone number, and health insurance information (if available, but not required).

Variants not found, but still worrying

Testing samples from the Burlington and Bennington areas have revealed no cases of variant Covid in Vermont so far, said Dr Mark Levine, commissioner for the Department of Health.

Burlington found samples of Covid variant markers in their wastewater tests, but Levine said the state is trying to confirm the presence of the variant in Covid-positive individuals in Vermont.

“We continue to send samples from Burlington every week to see if any of them will show the sequences, but Vermont is really one of the few states that has yet to find a variant in PCR testing that we do, ”he said. .

A new variant has been found in New York, and some evidence suggests the vaccine won’t work as well on this variant, but Levine said, “We just don’t know much about the ones in New York yet, because literally , they announced it this week.

He said next month could be an inflection point in the fight against the virus, a “critical month” for everyone.

“We’re going to have more and more people with natural immunity and vaccine-mediated immunity, which is going to be a wonderful thing,” he said. “And we hope to have the impact of the positive behavior change that came after the holidays again.”

But those signs of positivity could lead to a false sense of security, with some states easing restrictions. “Most people in the infectious disease and epidemiology community don’t believe for a minute that we can lighten up all the things we do every day,” Levine said.

“We shouldn’t relax because more and more people are getting vaccinated,” he said. “We have to realize that we don’t want to see more of these varieties like the ones from New York; we could be very focused on trying to continually do the behavior patterns that we have been trying to practice for a little while yet.

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